The Last Love Stories of Shinibashi
by katiesparks
Summary: An old book, lost to time. A maiko trying to run from her fate. Four tales, four girls, four stories connected by the strings of fate. What you see isn't always what you get. And love can hide in the darkest of places. Are you curious yet? SxR KxA HxK CxA


**Hello everyone, and welcome to my latest baby! And gasp it's a **_**chaptered story**_**! Can you believe it? A chaptered story that I plan on finishing! Amazing, right? Well, even more amazing, it's already halfway done, though none of it is typed yet. This is just the prologue though; you probably won't see Chapter 1 for awhile. It doesn't take much to get me to sit down and write, but getting me to sit down and type is like pulling teeth.**

**KIRBY: It's true, you don't even **_**know **_**what I had to go through to make her start this, it was only the repeated reminders that she had promised s2lou-chan that it would be up soon that I was able to convince her with.**

**Yeah, whatever. Either way, I'm going to go ahead and issue this warning now, this story may, at some time in the future, be pulled of the site. The reason for this being that it is a really big AU and several people who don't know anything about MC/MK have been able to read it and have assured my that everything seemed like a normal fiction and not a FANfiction. So I might end up changing the names and submitting it to a contest or twenty.**

**KIRBY: But we would like to say, if some else likes the geisha AU, feel free to use it. The whole reason this story is being born in the first place is because Katie went looking for a MC geisha story and couldn't find one, so she made it her mission to put the plunnies in peoples' heads.**

**Yeah, I mean, Conan's in JAPAN for Pete's sake! And geisha were a big part of Japan, so there should be at least one geisha story! In all my other anime fandoms, they have geisha stories! But enough rambling, time to get on with the actual story. Kudos to those of you who read this AN, it was really long!**

**The Last Love Stories of Shinibashi**

**(Title Pending)**

_by_

_katiesparks_

_9/28/08 _

**Prologue**

"_**Obaasan!" **_Came a cry from outside the teahouse and the startled mistress jumped, nearly dropping the expensive sake cup in her hand. "Obaasan, please, let me in!"

Suddenly, the woman recognized the voice. It was Ayumi-chan, the young maiko who stopped by her teahouse frequently to borrow books from the only 'library' in the district. Though, in truth, the library was nothing more than several rooms, left over from a time when geisha were nothing more than common prostitutes, filled with books that had piled up over the years. Quickly, the woman set down the fragile cup and pulled open the door for her young friend.

The girl all but ran inside, her face unpainted and tear-streaked. "Obaasan, please, hide me! They have sold my mizuage to a horrible man, please, Obaasan, let me stay here just for a little while until I can find a way to get away!"

The woman thought on it for a moment, thinking she should turn the girl in, but she quickly squashed that thought. This child had come to her in her time of need and she would do as was bid by her. "Very well, Ayumi-chan, come with me."

She led Ayumi to one of the book filled rooms and opened the shoji, motioning her newest charge inside. "Stay in here and be quiet. Find yourself something read and sit by the window if you need any light. I will return soon enough. Do you understand?"

The maiko nodded her assent and the woman closed the shoji behind her.

Ayumi glanced around at the stacks of books near the door, but she had gone through them before and read all the things of interest. Lifting the end of her kimono, which was too long without the extra height of her geta, needed because the wet season had started, she moved carefully between the rows towards the back. Along the back wall, she found a stack of old kabuki scripts, but their print was too faded to read. She leaned closer to get a better look when she stumbled and the tower of bound papers fell to the ground. Hurriedly, Ayumi began to pick them up when she noticed a book hidden behind the faded scripts. I was a deep red color, though incredibly dusty, and was bound by faux gold on the spine. Her cleaning forgotten, the maiko picked up the book, trying to make out the title through the dust and lack of light. Sighing in defeat, she took the book closer to the light and brushed off the cover with the tips of her fingers.

'_**The Last Love Stories of Shinibashi**__**'**_ It read in gold print and Ayumi found her interest piqued. Moving to sit under the window, she open the cover to try and find out more about the strange book.

'_The Last Love Stories of Shinibashi__' by Kudo Yusaku' _She flipped the page.

'_Foreword: These stories are not works of fiction. They are the truth of brave girls who thought to share their stories with me. Do not dishonor them. It was an honor to be allowed to write this and all that read this should know. There is love to be found in Shinibashi. –Kudo Yusaku' _**Flip.**

'_Table of Contents: The Blue-Eyed Geisha; The Virgin Prostitute; The Last Kanzashi; The Littlest Apprentice' _**Flip.**

'_Chapter One: The Blue-Eyed Geisha' _**Flip.**

**Chapters will be longer, this is only a prologue, after all. As always, please review and stay tuned for the next chapter. **

**Obaasan- aunt/ title of respect for an older woman  
Maiko-apprentist geisha  
****Kanzashi- hair ornaments worn by geisha****  
Shinibashi- a geisha district around/in Tokyo, smaller than Gion****  
Geta- wooden shoe that consists of a platform with a padded thong supports by two slats of wood sticking out the bottom. Not traditionally worn by geisha and were only used in the wet seasons to keep the hem of the kimono dry.****  
Shoji- rice paper screen/sliding door  
Mizuage- this is a controversial term, but I believe it is used to describe when maiko lose their virginity and graduate to becoming geisha. However, several of my sources have argued, saying it is a party for maiko that is held when the become geisha. It will be used in the first sense for this story. **

**Some of these may have been obvious, but I'm doing something different so I thought I might as well explain everything.**

**-katiesparks**


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